The Best: Part 1Sýnishorn

Prayer: Lord God, show me where in my life I am foolish, where I am naive, and where I can become wise. Help me to discern what is true, and to listen to the wise and Godly people in my life. Help me to become the kind of person I would want to marry.

Be A (Wise) Man

Your coach yells, “Be a man, get up, and get back out there!” from the sidelines as you climb back to your feet, trying to catch your breath. 

“Man-up and ask her out already,” your friend tells you as you elbow him for looking at your crush too long. 

If you’re male, chances are that you have heard many similar things growing up—or still even to this day—your masculinity called into question when you lack strength or bravery. Our God, however, through the book of Proverbs, calls men to something higher than pushing through pain or having confidence. Although Proverbs has much to say both to and about women, the book also has the literary framework of a father passing down a set of instructions to his son. 

Toward the beginning of this wise lecture, the father warns, “For the waywardness of the naive will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them” (Proverbs 1:32, NASB). Yikes. This father is intense, but he doesn’t tell his son to “be a man” or simply “man-up.” Instead, the father tries to shape what kind of man his son will be: not naive, not foolish, but wise.

We’ll look at how we can avoid being fooling tomorrow, but for now, let’s see how to keep ourselves from being naive. Proverbs 14:15 says, “A naive person will believe anything, but the shrewd person discerns his steps.” Echoes of the saying, “If you don’t stand for anything, you’ll fall for everything” can be found in this proverb. Men, you don’t want to be the guy who lets his future family follow the whims of the culture because you didn’t stand for anything. Women, you don’t want to find your family falling apart because you chose to follow that man.

Wisdom is more than knowledge; it is knowing what to do with the information we receive, checking it for biases and factuality before accepting it as true, then using it as a basis for how we live our lives. Scripture presents truth not as relative, but as objective—we must check information we receive against the Word of God if we do not want to suffer the fate of the naive.

Questions to Ask Yourself:

1. Do I, like the naive person, believe what I hear without checking to see if it is true?
2. What are the dangers of living as a naive person?
3. Is wisdom a characteristic I look for in someone I would consider dating?

What’s Next? 

1. Take a moment to reflect on what you do with new information you hear. What role does Scripture play in what you determine to be true?
2. Think through the qualities you would want in someone you would consider dating, and then honestly evaluate if, based on those qualities, you would date someone who is naive.